Checkout Hairy MP's

Hairy MPs was a project by artists’ collective Mongrel to increase hair growth for Members of Parliament. The heads of the political elite will be seeded with extra follicles, numerically based on their parliamentary attendance records. Over a period of three months we should see a profound difference in the appearance of our political representatives as new hair emerges. Mongrel guarantees that the sight of your favourite Members of Parliament luxuriating in their new furry countenances will renew your faith in the democratic process.

“Hairy MPs” consisted of a web site displaying the current state of hair growth - the “Hairy MPs” software regularly emailed the MPs to inform them of the current extent of facial fuzz and any action they can take to prevent further sprouting. Any resultant email correspondence was available for public viewing during the project’s launch in March at Mongrel’s mediahed in Southend-on-Sea. In line with Mongrel’s freedom of information policy, visitors will be able to print out the current state of their own MP and pin it to the wall along with their comments and further embellishments.

This unusual method of political visualisation continued Mongrel’s research to find ways to bridge the gap between the perception of information and social experience, reconnecting it within a framework of interest and accountability.

For more information on this project and others contact Mongrel here.

This project was launched as part of the NODE.London season of media arts that took place throughout March 2006 (http://www.nodel.org)